Friday, January 26th Mansfield, an acoustic rock, pop-indie band from Edmond, Oklahoma opened the first round with high energy originals. Their final song, Acrophobia, mellowed out their set with guitar swirls that were violin-like. Their presentation and energy satisfied a happy crowd, sending them to the 2nd Round. Plainfingers were anything but plain, as they shook up the night with a unique blend of avant-garde and electronic indie-rock. Skies Collapse, originally called Page One, reorganized after locating a new drummer. This hard-core metal quartet drove home their songs’ hard-hitting messages with solid delivery. Psymbience has been on the local scene for over nine years. This band has a lofty philosophy, “We strive to write music for the sake of music”. This motto is apparently true, since Psymbience is going on to the 2nd Round. To ‘create’ is the motivation of everything that Psymbience does. Champagne was not sipped from a slipper, but poured out their power-pop originals into a throbbing crowd of their fans. At the buzzer, this band was filling the souls of the thirsty crowd, and earned the #1 spot for the night. Congratulations, Champagne, for moving on to the 2nd Round and taking first place. Saturday, January 27th Japan’s Leading Discussion came from Lawton, Oklahoma. JLD’s powerful set ended with a song, Josh’s Song, that was dedicated to a friend that died. “In a time when mediocrity and screamo repetition ruled the scene, a new hope was born in the Land of Brunzwick. On the backs of dragons, they have descended to save us all”. Congratulations to the Lads of Brunzwick! We’ll see you at the 2nd Round. JimiJoJami (Kevin, Phil and Tom) laid out a smooth menu of rock-blues. Then it was time for the Keith Daniel Trio, a soulful, alternative funk band has just released its independent debut album, Honorable Mention. Despite having five members, they use “trio” because the name sticks. Their Let It In, a slow ballad, featured their keyboard-singer (front person) and slowed down the evening’s pace to mellow the atmosphere. Good n’ The Clutch drove 200 miles from Davidson, Oklahoma, to participate in the Emergenza Festival 1st Round, and moved on to 2nd Round, dedicating their sizzling set to the memory of Danny Sheffield, a musical family member. Han Bui, a four-piece alternative-rock band, delivered a powerful set of originals, earning them admission to the 2nd Round. Daylight Strategy, an alternative progressive band from Shawnee, Oklahoma, have been performing since 2004. They ended their power efficient set with a song appropriately titled, Energy. In spite of the frigid air, the Emergenza Festival, continues to draw a broad cross-section of creative Mid-west musical talent to the Bora Bora, in all types of weather--whether its sunny, snowing or pouring rain.